Start with a walk around Water Street, the walkable historic core of Henderson, which began in 1941 as an industrial town and has grown into Nevada's second-largest city, with about 350,000 people. It sits about 15 miles from the Las Vegas Strip but feels calmer and more residential, with planned communities like Green Valley and Anthem, a retirement community at Sun City Anthem.
Locals get to enjoy the desert without the casino noise. Lake Las Vegas has resort-style living, the Ethel M Chocolate Factory and cactus garden makes a fun stop, and Hoover Dam and Lake Mead are close. Red Rock is also within easy reach for hiking. Housing costs more than the national average, though. Violent crime is low, and property crime, mostly vehicle theft and break-ins, is the main worry. Summer heat above 105F is serious business, and desert hikes call for real caution.
Cities with a similar character, anywhere on the site.
Out of 10. Open any score to see how it’s worked out. “Data-based” scores come from published figures; “Hey! En Route estimate” scores are worked out from what we know about the city; “Hey! En Route rating” scores were set by our editors.
- Known as
- A Place to Call Home (official motto); Nevada's second-largest city; Green Valley
- Languages
- English; Spanish widely spoken; Tagalog and Mandarin among other languages
- Airports
- Harry Reid International (LAS), about 15-20 miles northwest, about 25 minutes drive; Henderson Executive Airport (HND) is general aviation only; other nearby: Boulder City Municipal (general aviation)
- Tipping
- Restaurants 18-20%; buffets and casual counters 10-15%; bartenders and servers $1-2 per drink; casino dealers and cocktail servers $1-5 per round; valet $3-5; housekeeping $3-5 per night; rideshare and taxi 15-20%; bellhops $2-3 per bag
About this data
Henderson is part of the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise MSA, and the metro figure of 2,421,685 is a 2024 estimate shared with Las Vegas (bigger city); a 2025 metro estimate was not verified. City population is Census July 1, 2025. Area and elevation from Wikipedia. Crime from NeighborhoodScout (2024). Home value and rent from Census QuickFacts 2020-2024. Cost of living index, hotel rates, current market price and events are approximate from general knowledge and not verified; there is no dedicated visitor bureau site verified (the former visithenderson.com returned 403 to automated fetches), so the city visiting page is used, which loaded. The event calendar URL was listed in search results but returned 403 to automated fetch, so it is unverified.
